7 minute read
Best Practices for Executing a Seasonal Flavor
by Jenna Movsowitz
While certain CPG trends fall off the radar as quickly as they came in, one recurs without fail: seasonal flavors. As the seasons change, so do consumer cravings -- and when ‘tis the season, consumers look for comfort, nostalgia and indulgence to take them away from day-to-day stress and add a touch of celebratory cheer. While it’s past time to hop on holiday trends for 2021, it may already be time to start considering how your brand can embrace flavor trends for the 2022 holiday season.
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For emerging brands, limited-time offers (LTOs) or seasonal flavors can be daunting -- but also are a great way to create awareness and excitement around your brand. Capitalizing on trends provides the opportunity to introduce entirely new consumers to your brand who may not have discovered it otherwise. Because consumers spend the most money during back to school shopping and the winter holidays, brands that release new products or flavors during these peak seasons can take advantage of consumer spending and product discovery.
To better understand what it takes to launch a seasonal flavor or LTO, we spoke with several members of the Startup CPG community. Here are our key takeaways:
START PLANNING YESTERDAY
We don’t mean to intimidate you, but if you’re planning on launching a new seasonal offering or LTO for 2022, you should’ve started planning yesterday. Typically, retailers will ask for paperwork and samples around 6-8 months before the launch date in retail -- which means that you likely need to start planning for inventory more than a year out.
If you have no idea when your launch date should even be (pumpkin spice does seem to creep up on us earlier and earlier each year), rely on SEO. Use free tools like Google Trends to understand when your target consumers are starting to search for seasonal products. Cindy Li, founder of Uproot Teas, suggests that you plan any consumer-facing materials to be released no more than a month before your launch to capitalize on the spike in trending keywords. “Consumers can’t wrap their heads around seasonal flavors too far in advance,” she says, “but you should also plan for time to build up anticipation for the product.”
When it comes to packaging for your LTO, the design process should start 6 months out, says Andy Kurtts, founder of Buttermilk Creative. This will allow you to submit the final packaging design to a printer at least four months ahead of your launch. Blake’s Seed Based, an allergy-friendly snack brand, created a Pumpkin Spice flavor of their Rice Crispy Treats for the 2021 season. This flavor ended up bringing in around 40% of purchases on their site this season. “We have all seen flavors and combinations of LTOs that shouldn’t exist. You need to know your target market inside and out. If they are currently buying other seasonal products and you have a product that could fill that need, you might have something there,” says Aaron Krebs, Director of Marketing for Blake’s Seed Based. “To gauge interest, you can even ask your community on IG on what flavor they want to see next! Consumers love to co-create with brands these days and it’s a great way to engage your community,” Aaron says.
While your brand’s LTO may be an impulse purchase for the average shopper, it cannot be a last minute decision for your brand. “At the end of the day, the product needs to deliver on that flavor,” Aaron emphasizes. “The last thing you want is a bad experience with one of your limited time flavors as that can hurt the overall brand image.”
Prior to creating an LTO, a brand must ask themselves a few key questions: 1. Does this align with our brand’s values and voice? 2.Is our target consumer interested in this offering? 3.Do competitor brands offer this seasonal flavor/
LTO? 4.Does this seasonal flavor/LTO align with our current retailers? 5. Do we have the capacity to manage this LTO while growing the base business?
DON’T REINVENT THE (PACKAGING) WHEEL
Andy’s best tip for seasonal packaging design? “Lean into conventions. This isn’t the time to get super conceptual or out-of-the-box. We all know that as soon as the weather changes, our brains are hyper-aware of things like pumpkins, leaves, orange, or yellow for Fall, and golds, greens, reds, blues, silvers for holidays -- lean into that.” He suggests maintaining your recognizable packaging system and making minor tweaks to evoke a seasonal feel. This allows returning consumers to recognize your new offering, and helps new consumers recognize your brand in the future.
“Consider what you can stretch to maintain consistency while having fun and adding spice. Can you translate your current packaging design look and feel to a new format, like a labeled clamshell instead of a printed box? It’s okay to bend the rules of your current packaging system while maintaining recognizability. Seasonal packaging has so much opportunity to delight and show the creative, fun side of the brand, if done right,” Andy says.
LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Just like most things in life, location is key to success. With Uproot’s upcoming launch, Cindy has been thinking strategically about shelf placement to emphasize seasonality. “When we start working with retailers, I will be thinking about which flavors we want at eye level during which seasons,” she says. “If I were designing something for a November display, for example, I would want to have our chai spice kit at eye level, versus the typical black and green tea.”
Petit Pot, an organic French dessert brand, also created a limited edition Pumpkin Spice flavor of their pot de crème. Pierre Jamet, Chief Sales Officer of Petit Pot, emphasizes the importance of off-shelf for LTOs: “I always try to get the seasonal in an off-shelf to insist on the limited-time only offer,” he says. “It’s a great basket builder for the retailers, as a lot of shoppers will discover new brands and products that way. It provides a great trial opportunity without having to sample the product and, if displayed in an off-shelf, it reduces the risks of cannibalizing your core SKUs.”
If your brand doesn’t have prior experience with off-shelf placement, an LTO could be your way in. “A few good reasons to plead for an off-shelf is to showcase a really unique packaging and to create more incrementality than the existing SKUs in the regular set. Additionally, you can offer an ongoing allowance to help with the sell-through,” says Pierre.
SELLING OUT > EXCESS INVENTORY
A limited lifetime product comes with inventory risks. If your product doesn’t sell through, it can be a bad look for the brand. “You will have to fund the sell-through through markdowns, and worse case scenario buy back the inventory,” says Pierre. Selling out of a product also indicates to consumers that this product was highly in-demand, and builds up anticipation for next year’s seasonal release. Thus, selling out is better than having excess inventory. To forecast this number, “Starting with a benchmark is key. If you’re working with your first ever seasonal item, start with benchmarking off of one of your regular offerings,” says Aaron, “Look at distribution and velocity, and build off of that.” Pumpkin Spice Rice Cripsy Treats were Blake’s first seasonal item ever, so they used one of their regular offerings of Rice Cripsy Treats to benchmark. “We produced just under two months of inventory -- a conservative estimate because this was our first seasonal item as a brand. Good news is we are on track to sell out before the holidays!”
Cindy suggests creating a customer waitlist to gauge interest as well as generate hype around the seasonal item. She also suggests collecting data from ad engagement, customer surveys, and SEO to create a general range of inventory, leaving wiggle room for impulse buys and new customers.
LEVERAGE YOUR LTO TO CREATE LOYAL CONSUMERS
Seasonal offerings/LTOs are likely to introduce new customers to your brand. But consumers who trial your brand on the LTO flavor could be lost as quickly as they were found. To hold onto these new customers, “it’s all about re-targeting and re-engaging,” says Aaron. Paid media, social content, and email newsletters are all ways to leverage momentum with new consumers.
“Articulate your message both on and off-pack so your newly acquired customers want to get more flavors,” Pierre suggests. “For example, show your best-selling flavors on your LTO packaging and provide a QR code with a custom landing page.”
Big-name brands often monopolize seasonal flavors. But with early planning and a set strategy that covers everything from packaging to placement, emerging brands can start to get in on the flavor frenzy. We can’t wait to see your new seasonal offerings in holiday season 2022.
